Process Credit Cards Anywhere: 5 Smartphone Tools

Whether you work as an in-home massage therapist, operate a taco truck, or run some other small business, you're missing sales if you can't process credit cards. However, a number of mobile payment tools now let you accept credit cards on an iPhone, an Android handset, a Windows Phone, or a dumber handset. You just need to sign up, attach credit card reader hardware, and navigate the fees.

Most of these tools require a merchant account. Banks regard credit card transactions similar to the way they do loans: Since they're afraid that you'll run up a bunch of sales with fraudulent cards, pocket the money, and book a flight to Bermuda before they catch on, they're stingy about granting access. You'll have to pass a credit check to earn a bank's trust and a merchant account.

Depending on the credit card tool, you'll pay a recurring fee for your merchant account, a percentage of each transaction, a flat fee per transaction, initial hardware costs, and possibly an additional monthly fee. This framework makes sense for businesses that process a lot of sales, keeping individual transaction fees low. But a wild-card service -- Square -- eliminates that monthly overhead, instead charging more per transaction.

We looked at five mobile devices and apps that enable small businesses to process credit card transactions. All provide the same basic functionality, but only some will match your specific needs.

From: www.entrepreneur.com